


Observing You Observing Me

by undercovermartian



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, akaashi is sort of weird, is this even cannon?, probably is, probably should have betad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-27 00:23:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9940526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/undercovermartian/pseuds/undercovermartian
Summary: Bokuto realizes that he doesn't know Akaashi as much as Akaashi knows him. Bokuto comes to the conclusion that this will not do so he vows to learn everything about Akaashi that he can, using his powers of observation alone.Akaashi is a weirdo and a worrywart.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Akaashi is sort of weird in this. I'm pretty sure Akaashi is a sort of weird person though...

People would probably think it a little concerning how much of Akaashi’s time, thoughts, and general existence revolved around Bokuto. Bokuto was the blinding, brilliant sun and Akaashi was the unremarkable planet spinning around him, orbiting. Akaashi kept a watchful eye on Bokuto to ensure that the center of his universe would shine as bright as he could. 

Even when Bokuto wasn’t with Akaashi – something which was of rare occurrence – he often found his thoughts drifting back to him, running stupid hypothetical situations in his head and wondering how would Bokuto react to this, what would he do if such and such happened. 

But people didn’t know this, they didn’t need to, and so Akaashi contented himself with wondering about how Bokuto would react if he found a baby barn owl with a broken wing as he walked to Bokuto’s house. Even though Bokuto was bounding with energy and often unknowingly injured people when he got too excited, he’d be so, so gentle with the owlet. He’d cradle it in large hands, feed it worms with his bare fingers, sing lullabies as he rocked the bird to sleep and back into health. 

Akaashi sighed deeply, his breath puffing out before him as he climbed the steps of the Bokuto household. He pressed a gloved finger on the doorbell and waited. His sleepy thoughts took him back to the first time he met the Fukurodani ace.  
\- - -  
They met, ironically, off the volleyball court, when Akaashi was in his first year of high school. He was leaving his homeroom class late – his first-year teacher asked him to help rearrange the desks in the classroom – and the campus was blissfully quiet and empty. Akaashi was enjoying the silence, his sleepy thoughts muddling around his head as he walked out.  
And then a series of booming shouts pulled him back to reality. “Hey, hey, you there! Can you help me please? I really need some help!” 

Akaashi looked to his left and saw no one then turned to his right and squinted. He saw a guy crouched in an awkward position by the fence and he was frantically waving him down. He was tall, Akaashi could tell even from a distance, and he was big and his hair was bizarre. He slowly approached the stranger and stopped when he was a meter away. 

“Hey, hey! Can you help me? I got sorta stuck.” His voice was even more of a foghorn up-close. His right arm was stuck in a hole in the bottom of a fence. Akaashi’s mind sort of melted. 

“Do I even want to know how you got stuck in this position?” 

Wide golden eyes stared at him for some long, uncomfortable moments. And then a blush dusted his sharp cheeks. “I – um…I was walking home from practice and I saw that there was 1000 yen on the other side of the fence. And I wanted to get it before it flew away.” 

Akaashi could see that indeed, just centimeters away from his outstretched fingers was a crumpled 1000 yen bill that was half buried in the dirt. He didn’t even know how to respond to that. Akaashi just looked at him in muted, horrified wonder. 

“So, can you help unstuck me? I’ve been here for an hour…” he said bashfully.  
Akaashi blinked. Weird shit happened to him when he didn’t sleep at night. His insomnia had been killing him these past days, so of course this would be happening now. 

“Right,” Akaashi mumbled and pulled open the door of the gate that was literally centimeters away from this guy. He could feel the pounding in his temples intensify with every step. Akaashi crouched down to where the other student was and began to pull back the metal that surrounded the other’s exposed forearm. 

It wasn’t that easy, the metal was not as pliable as he thought it would be and he had to spend a few minutes tugging away at it. He could feel the other guy’s eyes on him, but Akaashi didn’t look up and the other thankfully was quiet. 

“There,” Akaashi huffed with a final tug. He rocked back to the balls of his feet and slowly stood up.  
The other guy slowly extracted his arm. It was a little red. But thankfully it wasn’t scratched. He stood up quickly and grinned at Akaashi. Damn, he was even taller and broader standing up. 

“My name’s Bokuto. Bokuto Kotaro. Thanks for saving my life,” he said. His white teeth glittered in the light of the setting sun. 

Akaashi bit back a tired sigh. “Akaashi Keji. First year,” he mumbled. 

Bokuto’s smile seemed to get even bigger, if that was even possible. “Well then, Akaashi, I really owe you.” 

“Not really, just try to be more careful next time Bokuto-san.” 

Bokuto scratched the back of his head and chuckled, “I’ll keep that in mind.” He cleared his throat after a couple of moments of silence. “I’ll see you around. Thanks again.” 

He began to turn on his heels. “Wait,” Akaashi said. Bokuto turned around with wide, expectant eyes that glittered. “You forgot this,” Akaashi said as he pressed the 1000 yen bill into Bokuto’s warm hands. 

Bokuto looked at the muddy bill, then up at Akaashi and then back at the bill and then he busted out laughing. His laugh was as loud and as large as he was, but it was sort of nice. It suited him. “I like you, Akaashi. We should hang out some time!” and then he was gone, leaving Akaashi wondering what the hell just happened.  
And of course, they met the next day, when Akaashi went to the gym for the volleyball club tryouts. Of course. 

Despite how much Akaashi was initially annoyed when he was tasked with the burden of bridling Bokuto by the third years on the team, Akaashi soon found Bokuto’s constant company on and off the court to be tolerable. Bokuto was an interesting human being, by all means. Akaashi was always so bored before it was almost painful. But there was never a dull moment when Bokuto was around. 

Akaashi learned that Bokuto talked a lot and he cared about a lot too. He loved volleyball, he lived and breathed it but he could also rattle off a myriad of facts that he memorized after watching a documentary that was playing on the Animal Planet the night before. Bokuto liked rock music, and he liked to cook. His grandmother taught him how to knit, but he wasn’t very good at it.  
He also learned that Bokuto was smarter than he let on. He was good at math and science, although he sucked at English and he didn’t have the patience for history. He patiently helped Akaashi on his statistics homework many times. He was a surprisingly good teacher. 

Bokuto was an easy person to get to know, and the more Akaashi learned about him the more things he found that he liked about him and somewhere down the line Akaashi realized that Bokuto was the closest friend that he’d ever had.  
\- - -  
Bokuto stumbled out of his house five minutes later. Akaashi was about to glare daggers at him for making him wait in the frigid January air but then he realized that Bokuto looked like death. He had bags under his eyes, his skin looked pasty and his hair looked flatter than it normally did. "Sorry for making you wait, Kaashi," he croaked. God, he sounded terrible. 

Akaashi wanted to be mad at him. But this was the first time that Bokuto made him wait like this and he clearly wasn't doing well. "Its fine, Bokuto-san. We should get there before the bell rings if we hurry." 

Bokuto shuffled out of the doorway like a zombie and mechanically closed the door behind him. "...yeah." 

This was strange, very strange. Akaashi was getting more and more worried by the minute. Bokuto hadn't uttered a word since they left his house. Bokuto burst at the seams with energy, usually, especially in the mornings. But this morning he was withdrawn and downcast, a shell of his normal self. 

What could be bothering him? Akaashi was used to Bokuto's occasional dejected moods. But they were always caused by something like him missing too many tosses that Akaashi threw his way or having too many of his spikes mess up. But Bokuto was fine, as far as he knew. He was watching a documentary on harpy eagles and texting Akaashi all of the "super cool and amazing" facts about them through out the night. 

They paused at the school's entrance. Since they were in different years they had different classes and their paths separated there. Akaashi stood appraising Bokuto, who still hadn't said anything. 

Bokuto opened his mouth and then quickly shut it with an audible click of his jaw. He flushed. "I guess I'll see you at lunch Kaashi," Bokuto practically whispered. 

Akaashi's heart lurched. Something was wrong. But Bokuto would come and tell him what was happening when he was ready. He couldn't press the issue now. "You have crumbs on the side of your cheek," he said instead. 

Bokuto's eyes opened larger than Akaashi'd ever seen them. He slowly lifted his hand to his cheek to brush it off. "Thanks," he mumbled and then fled. 

 

Akaashi didn't pay attention in any of his classes. He thought about Bokuto and what the hell was going on. 

Bokuto canceled lunch with him in a terse text message, saying that he had to meet with his counselor and that he'll see him at practice. Akaashi was concerned. 

Afternoon practice was bad, really bad. Bokuto was a complete and utter mess. He came in late, which never happened and he kept on staring at Akaashi like he had grown two heads. He missed all of the tosses that Akaashi sent his way. After he barrled into Konoha after a block gone wrong, Akaashi decided that he had had enough. 

He closed the distance between him and Bokuto. "Bokuto-san, do you want to tell me what's been going on now?" 

Bokuto visibally gluped. "Hey, hey Akaashi? Do you think I'm your friend?" 

Wait, what? "Yes Bokuto-san, I think you're my friend." 

"Do you think you know me?" Bokuto started to scratch his arm. He was feeling nervous. 

Akaashi was silent for a few moments, "for the most part." 

"Oh," Bokuto whispered. He closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. "Last night after watching the documentary, I realized that you know everything about me. Like, you know me. You really, really know me. And I don't know you. I don't know what your favorite food is. I don't know what your favorite color is. I don't know what you're thinking ever. I've been such a terrible friend, Akaashi." 

Akaashi furrowed his brows. "I don't think you've been a bad friend, Bokuto-san. What do you want to know?" Akaashi mulled it over, it makes sense that it would come to this. Akaashi rarely offered information about himself, he wasn't that interesting of a person, and Bokuto always had more than enough to say for the both of them. 

"No!" Bokuto practically yelled. His eyes flew open and he clutched Akaashi's jersey. "I want to get to know you the same way you got to know me! By using my powers of observation! Akaashi Keji, I swear I'll get to know you!" Bokuto was screaming at the end. 

Akaashi's face grew warm. The gym was eerily silent, and Akaashi could feel everyone' eyes on them. Ten seconds passed and the room errupted into laughter. Akaashi wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Bokuto was far from embarassed though. He was staring down Akaashi looking determined. He nodded at him and let go of his shirt. 

Bokuto clapped his hands. "Let's get back to practice!" And he played with renewed vigor. He spiked every single one of Akaashi's tosses afterwards.  
\---  
Over the next week Akaashi became hyper aware of Bokuto's eyes on him. The disaster of last week's practice was not repeated but Bokuto would stare at him without blinking with his brows furrowed in deep concentration. And then he'd make a triumphant noise of understanding. Bokuto pulled out a notebook and scribbled down his observation with a small smile on his face. 

Akaashi even caught him staring at him in his homeroom class during lunch. Akaashi looked up to see Bokuto's face presed up against the glass. When he'd gotten up to ask Bokuto what he was doing there he just gave Akaashi a disarming smile and said, "I wanted to see you in your natural habitat." 

Akaashi was so used to observing Bokuto that this role reversal had him flustered. Bokuto was observing Akashi observing him. It was strange. It was weird and it constantly left Akaashi hot in the face. 

"Akaashi Keji." The sun had already set and they were walking home from a late practice that extended into the night. 

Whenever Bokuto used his full name he wanted to tell him something, something that he was sure of. 

"Yes Bokuto-san?" His breath puffed as he exhaled. 

"I want to tell you my observations now," Bokuto said as he pulled out the tiny notepad he'd been writing in all week. 

"Akaashi Keji, after a week of examination, I have come to the conclusion that you are kind of weird." 

Akaashi didn't know what to say to that confession. 

"No, no!" Bokuto waved his hands after realizing what he said. "I like you even more now that I know all of your quirks. Just hear me out." 

Bokuto clearned his throat and Akaashi held his breath. 

" Number one: your favorite food is Nanohana no Karashiae. I noticed you stealing mine from my bento when you thought I wasn't looking.  
Number two: you chew your food on the left side of your mouth 15 times and then on the right side of your mouth 15 times and then you swallow.  
Number 3: you like to drink hot tea from a thermos after practice, insteading of drinking cold Pocari Sweat like the rest of us. And when its cold you like to have cold food. I think that's really really weird.  
Number 4: you always play with your hands and touch things when you're bored.  
Number 5: your hands are longer than mine but your fingers are skinnier.  
Number 6: you want to become stronger. I saw the weight lifting magazine in your locker.  
Number 7: you have very bad sleeping habbits. You don't sleep at night. I know this because I can see when you were last active on messenger. You're always on your facebook even though you ignore my messages half of the time," Bokuto started to pout. "And then you take naps in random places. Like you fell asleep standing up against the broom closet door. 

"Number 8: Even though you are quiet, you are not shy.  
Number 9: You are the politest and sassiest person that I know.  
And number 10: you like to hide your facial expressions from everyone, but I know you like to smile." 

Akaashi stared at him in stunned silence. Bokuto was grinning at him. The wind howled around them. Akaashi felt like he had a fever. 

"Hey, hey Akaashi? Do you think I know you now?" Bokuto rocked back and forth on his feet, staring at Akaashi expectantly. 

"I...yeah. I think you do, Bokuto-san." 

Bokuto let out a loud victory whoop and started to jump up and down. Akaashi burried his face into his scarf. He could feel a stupid smile tug on the corner of his lips. And then Bokuto froze. He leaned forward and squinted at Akaashi. 

"You're smiling. You get tiny wrinkles around your eyes when you do!" he burst out laughing. 

Akaashi could feel his blush intensify. He gave Bokuto a noncommital noise in response. Bokuto wrapped his arm around Akaashi's shoulders, pulling him into a loose side hug. "I really don't get why you do this Akaashi. Its 0 degrees outside. We are freezing our butts off. But do you want to go get ice cream or something?"

Akaashi blinked. "Thank sounds like a good idea, Bokuto-san." 

Bokuto smiled at him. He dropped his hand from Akaashi's shoulder and intertwined it with his hand. "Let's go," and he started to run down the street.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic. I'd greatly appreciate any feedback!


End file.
